Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a vascular disease found in adults. Specifically, this disease refers to the enlargement of the aorta, the main blood vessel delivering blood throughout the body, at the abdomen.

Currently, there is no clinical treatment available to prevent or reverse injuries that cut off blood flow caused by heart attacks, but injecting a special compound called Poloxamer 188 (P188) during a heart attack has shown promising results in pig models, researchers from the University of Minnesota Medical School found.

More than one-quarter of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients could be suffering from masked hypertension, a recent UMN study found.

This type of undiagnosed hypertension can be difficult to spot because blood pressure in these patients is normal in the clinic. But outside of the doctor’s office, patients could have high blood pressure.

Despite its known benefits, new research from the University of Minnesota’s Medical School shows many older patients don’t talk to their doctors about the cardiovascular benefits of low-dose aspirin.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, looked at aspirin use of 26,000 Minnesotans ages 25 to 74. The study found aspirin use for primary prevention of heart attacks and stroke increased in men from 1 percent in 1980 to 21 percent in 2009, and in women from 1 percent to 12 percent.

The most common heart rhythm abnormality, atrial fibrillation, is categorized by a rapid or irregular heartbeat leading to poor blood flow. In patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM), there have been no proven strategies to prevent this condition, until recently.

In a new study from the University of Minnesota Cardiovascular Division, Department of Medicine, researchers found that as compared with standard blood pressure lowering, intensive blood pressure lowering in patients with T2DM was associated with a reduced incidence of atrial fibrillation and abnormal P-Wave indices (PWI).

Most assume that in the event of a major cardiac emergency, another bystander trained in CPR will be nearby to save the day. In reality, nearly 70 percent of Americans wouldn’t be prepared to give CPR. As National CPR and AED Awareness Week continues, Kim Harkins, from the Minnesota Resuscitation Consortium (MRC) at the University of Minnesota, brought Health Talk up-to-date on the latest CPR standards, and how to react when facing a cardiac arrest situation.

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